No one around the Pistons has heard the "T" word -- tank -- much in advance of tonight's game, but after what the Cavaliers did Monday at Indiana, the art of the late-season tank job, and the role games like these play, is in full bloom.

The Pistons have the fifth-worst record in the NBA, the Cavaliers fourth-worst, separated by 1 1/2 games. The Pistons have four games left, the Cavs five, and the greatest likelihood for either one to change positions in the May 21 NBA Draft Lottery is if they flip-flop.

Tanking is evil. It's anathema to the team purpose. Losing artfully for the long-term good of the franchise, well, some might say that's a different thing.

Substandard college draft or not, the difference between having the fourth-most and fifth-most combinations entering the lottery was enormous last year: A 13.7-percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick and 42.33-percent chance of hitting the top three, compared to 7.6 percent and 25.5 percent. The Sacramento Kings were fifth, which is where they picked, took Thomas Robinson, then gave up and traded him in February. New Orleans was fourth, won the lottery and took Anthony Davis No. 1 overall.

Conspiracy theorists had to love the classic full-gainer the Cavs did into the draft tank Tuesday, when they blew a 20-point lead after three quarters at Indiana by getting outscored 35-10 in the fourth. Almost brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? Well, the Cavs will be home tonight, where it theoretically is a little more difficult for them to lose, but just for the sake of fun, say you coached the Pistons for a night and found yourself in a close game late in the fourth quarter. The buzzer from upstairs, that one no one knows about, came down: Blow this one, we need it. How would you tank a game with this group?

DAVID MAYO

I'm not fan of the dive. I don't find the choreography of finding the soft spot in the canvas before the fight starts very appealing. But the tanking theories spin fast this time of year, and this is the best game of the final week of the season to spin them. And there are some good ways to blow a game and look a lot better doing it than Cleveland did last night.

If you needed to blow a decent lead over a series of possessions, have Greg Monroe miss eight or nine consecutive layups. He's tired of losing, so he might go along with it. And hey, it's a normal occurrence within the framework of the offense anyway.

If you need to do it in a way where no one gets criticized and everyone leaves the arena entertained tonight, match up Brandon Knight with Kyrie Irving in the fourth quarter and make it an isolation game for a few possessions, like at the NBA Rising Stars Classic. Fun to watch and with Jose Calderon out for the Pistons, there's every reason to force the matchup. Problem with that strategy is sometimes Knight wins.

If you had the ball in a last-possession situation, have Rodney Stuckey miss an open 3-pointer at the buzzer. And by that I mean just call a play for him and let nature take its course.

BRENDAN SAVAGE

Give Slava Kravtsov playing time. Lots of it. Starting early
in the game and continuing deep into the fourth quarter should the outcome be in doubt.

That's not to say Kravtsov's presence alone is going to
guarantee a loss but it sure isn't going to hurt. His future as a productive NBA player is uncertain given what we've seen this year so if the
Pistons want to defend his minutes, they can say they wanted to see what
he's capable of doing in preparation of next season and beyond.

They could also "rest" Brandon Knight and Andre Drummond for
much (or all) of the game to "protect" their futures. Remember, Knight has a broken nose
and they don't want to risk another back injury for Drummond . Of course, the
Cavs might do an even better job at tanking so that has to be taken into
consideration..

Keep in mind I'm not advocating a tank job. I don't believe in that at all. This is just one
way the Pistons could not only attempt it but justify it as well.

READER REACTION

If you had coached the Pistons and needed to tank a game for draft positioning, how would you do it?